Tears of the Deceased
Tears of the Deceased is a prequel story set in the G2 Origins Timeline. Meant to also fit in the official timeline, it follows Rira and Amaru in their final days. Story Prologue The night rain fell softly in the City of the Mask Makers. Peace and tranquility was now the term for normalcy, and the threat of anything attacking the island of Okoto was far from happening. Still, Rira was left to ponder over what was going to happen in the rest of his lifetime. Yes, the Skadki Marauders were defeated. Yes, the Elemental Masks were secure, so there was no chance of the island losing its stability anytime soon. And it wasn’t like the Elemental Creatures would simply die… What was to become of the Toa? Were they really the islands guardians, or were they becoming mere citizens like the rest of the Okotoans? Rira was constantly in thought over this concept, wondering what his purpose truly was in the world—no, this universe—remembering that he apparently came from space. He tried to find kill time to kill, working as a gladiator. He enjoyed his job, but it often conflicted him that he was a mere piece of entertainment for the common folk. It wasn’t that he felt above the others; it just particularly hurt that he was left to do this after the Mask Makers themselves explicitly stated that it “wasn’t necessary to protect them anymore”(which, in his eye, was just a nicer way of saying he was fired). After so many years of protecting others who couldn’t protect themselves, he simply felt useless doing something that wasn’t meant for Toa… Even his new job was puzzling to him. It was his idea to have Amaru join the gladiator arena, yes; but somehow Amaru felt more at home there than he did. Amaru loved his job. Rira quit thinking about it. He always gave himself a headache whenever he thought about these things. "What time is it?" He said, realizing he had lost track of time. Amaru would kill him if he was late to the show. Retracing his footsteps, Rira rushed through the woods to get to the arena in time, hoping it wasn't already too late. Part One The booming sounds of cheering was heard. Hundreds of Okotoans had gathered that day for what was going to be the battle of the century. Yet, withen the walls of the arena, Amaru was less than excited. Leaned at a wall with his arms crossed, Amaru impatiently awaited Rira's return. It wasn't like him to be late like this. Grunting at his companion's unusual ignorance, he wondered why the Okotoans were still cheering after all this time. It must had been at least 5 minutes since the battle was announced. Angry and completely confused, Amaru stormed to the arena's entrance, wondering what all the cheering was for. Looking through the doorway, he failed to notice that Rira was already there. Rira was standing there, his arms raised for the audience's screams. He glanced over at the arena's entrance, noticing Amaru was staring at the audience in confusion. "Amaru! What took you so long?" he yelled to him, adding his professional flare in to satisfy the fans. Amaru was startled by his speech. He wanted to ask where in all of Okoto he was all this time, but instead he spared him and brushed it off instead. "I figured I'd let you have all the glory this time," he said, sauntering into the arena. "Now," he called out to the crowd. "I'm sure all of you are getting impatient, are you not?" The crowd reacted in an uproar. "Of course you are! Now, enough of this talk! I believe it's about time we get to the fun part, right?" As the crowd screamed in agonizing excitement again, both of the Toa pulled their tools and took a fighting stance. "It looks like a good-happy day, any problems you've got?" Amaru said, addressing Rira. "Well, I question why we still do this, but otherwise, things have gone quite swell." Amaru chuckled. "Then here's my problem: You were late to the party and made me look like the tardy one!" "I do apologize for that. I merely lost track of time," Rira said. "But if you'd rather my apology be me going easy on you, you have another thing coming!" "That's more like it! This is for steal-taking the show!" Amarus yelled as he lunged towards his opponent. As the two battled it out in Hammer Flush, the crowd cheered. Meanwhile, in the entrance of the arena, a mysterious being was watching the match as well. Dark shadows surrounded the figure as it looked on, preventing anyone from having a clear view of him. His dark, glowing red eyes were firmly fixed on Amaru's Kanohi. "The Akaaka…that will do quite nicely," he said in a demonic voice before sneeking off into the darkness. Later The battle was still raging on between the two. Fans were eagerly watching them, waiting to see who would emerge the victor. Amaru, however, noticed that Rira wasn't fighting in his typical style. Noticing the window, Amaru charged at Rira, his blades getting caught with Rira's axe. Amarua used this as an opertunity to speak. "Something's on your mind. What's going on with you?" "You enjoy this art so much," Rira said, breaking free from the clash. "How is it that I was able to help you find yourself, only to lose my own purpose?" "This again? Didn't I say to stop deep-thinking about these things?" He said, interupting the battle. The crowd had become silent, confused as to why the game had been interupted. "I know, but it's been on my mind for the longest now. Are we really just mere entertainment now? Aren't we supposed to be doing something useful?" Amaru grunted, slumping his arms in the process. "Are we really going to go through this again? Rira, I've got better things to do than ramble-talk about senseless topics like destiny!" The crowd, growing impatient, started to boo. "Destiny? Weren't you the same one who I helped, considering you suffered the same problem?" "When and why?" Amaru asked. "Sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about." Rira put down his axe and crossed his arms. "I recall distinctly that you suffered the same problem as I, Amaru. You felt useless, and I helped you to do somethig with yourself." The crowd's booing grew louder. "That's all nice and grand, " he said."But if that's the case, Rira, then why are you hurt-suffering the same problem?" "How in all of Okoto should I know?!" Rira yelled, losing himself to anger. "It's easy to help others, but how do I do the same thing for myself? Think of that, Amaru." "I'd rather not." "Do you even care?" Rira yelled. "Even when I'm conflicted with a serious problem, you still show indifference. You always show indifference!" Amaru turned his back to him, his arms crossed. "Mabye I am… But at least I moved on from my conflict-problem instead of whining like a life-dawn Okotoan." Rira got silent. He was genuinely angry this time around. As mature and calm as he tried to be in the direst of situations, he couldn't stand Amaru's attitude. Still, he felt it would be useless to still argue with him like this. Rather, noticing the crowd's consistent booing, he decided to play the situation in his favor. "…What did you just call me, Vine-arms?" He asked, picking up his axe, clenching it tightly with both hands. Amaru turned around, surprised at his retort. "Well, look who finally learned how to argue-quarrel back at someone." "I think we've wasted enough of the Okotoans' time, have we not? Why don't we settle this like Toa?" "Well played, Rira. I'll give you that." Amaru said, pulling his swords. How about we make this interesting?" The two clashed once more, causing the crowd to cheer once more. Though this time, Rira was dominating the fight, funneling his anger and confusion into his axe, hoping to use it to shame Amaru in the arena. Or In the very least bring it to a draw… To be continued Characters *Amaru *Rira *Kulta *Unnamed Toa of Fire *Unnamed Toa of Water *Unnamed Toa of Ice *Unnamed Toa of Stone *Ekimu *Makuta *Several Elemental Creatures Trivia *Mercatorprojection chose to write this story to give somewhat of a history for the Skull Warriors. This was particularly because the official timeline stated little about who Skull Basher and Skull Slicer actually were. As such, their story is in correspondence with their Skull forms. **A worthy thing of noting, however, is that he conceived the idea long before their backstories were revealed. Merc was glad to discover that Amaru fit into the official plotline. Rira, on the other hand, did not get this privilege. **In addition to that, Merc's original intention was to make the last set of Toa the defenders of the Island, protecting it from marauders. He had originally called them the "Skadki Mauraders". As the official timeline had "Skull Marauders", he found this safe, so that Rira could stay a Toa instead of being evil. Category:G2 Origins Timeline